Museums of Europe

The ones you plan a whole weekend around.

Bookmarks

1. Rijksmuseum

   5/5

   The Night Watch, and the library on the first floor.

   Amsterdam, Netherlands

2. Musée d’Orsay

   5/5

   The fifth-floor clock, and all of Impressionism around it.

   Paris, France

3. Musée du Louvre

   5/5

   Enter by the Porte des Lions to skip the pyramid line.

   Paris, France

4. Galleria degli Uffizi

   5/5

   Book the time slot online, or the queue wraps the building.

   Florence, Italy

5. Museo del Prado

   5/5

   Velázquez and Goya — two hours minimum for the black paintings alone.

   Madrid, Spain

6. Kunsthistorisches Museum

   4/5

   The largest Bruegel collection in the world.

   Vienna, Austria

7. British Museum

   4/5

   Free, immense, exhausting: go twice rather than once.

   London, United Kingdom

8. Pergamonmuseum

   4/5

   The Ishtar Gate, life-size and for real.

   Berlin, Germany